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Kathakali is a combination of two Malayalam words, "Katha" which means story and "Kali" meaning play.
This typically Kerala dramatic art form combines mime, dancing, music to act out a story taken from Hindu mythology. The representation lasts for about an hour but it takes more than that to prepare for it as the costumes and made-up facial masks are particularly complex.
This evening's spectacle "Killing of Dussana" is taken from the epic, Mahabharata which tells of events leading to and following a great battle that was probably fought between the Pandavas and the Kauravas around 800 BC on the flat plain around Kurukshetra, some 150 km north of New Delhi. The Mahabharata and the other major Hindu epic, the Ramanaya, were written over several centuries (400 BC to 400 AD), by Brahman priests as a vehicle for expressing their vision of Hindu social structure and morals.
Experts interpret the Mahabarata as symbolising the struggle for supremacy inside the hierarchy of Hindu society.
It is a very long tale, about 100 000 lines long, with many sub plots. In the main story, the five Pandava brothers are exiled to the forest for 12 years after having gambled and lost their common wife Panchali to the Kauravas. When they return to claim their kingdom and wife after 12 years, the Kauravas refuse and the great battle occurs during which Bimasena kills Dussanana and is reunited with Panchali.
The show starts with Dussasana dancing a mime while a voice tells the story accompanied by drums and cymbals.
Below on the left, Dussasana humiliates Panchali (played by a male dancer), and on the right, Bhimasena climbs on a high place to search for Dussasana during the great battle.
Bhimasana finds Dussasana, challenges him and they fight and fight and fight with dramatic dancing and music.
Finally, Bhimasena kills Dussasana, tears out his heart and intestines, drinks the bood and wears the intestines, ugh, very gory.
Below, Bimasena is reunited with Panchali and both leave.
In the las scene, Bhimasena reports what he has done to Lord Krishna who consoles him by saying that the murderous deed was the will of God.
The Mahabarata was rewritten and added to many times and its final version dated around 400 AD acquired the status of a religious scripture still used today to exemplify the Hindu values of caste. Its net effect was to integrate the Kshatryia caste into the Hindu system in a position slightly inferior to the Brahmin caste.
The Ramayana which is the other great Hindu epic was also rewritten may times. Both evolved with the political and social conditions of the times, in ways serving the interests of their authors, the Brahmins.
